Most sports people have an advantage, not just Caster

The Caster Semenya story, “Furious SA fights for super Caster” (April 29) is really getting out of hand.

Do the people at the International Association of Athletics Federations not realise that people are born different and some have an advantage when it comes to sports? Think of that swimmer with the abnormally large feet. Was it fair to have him churning away with the Queen Mary’s propellers while in the adjacent lanes swimmers with sizes 8 or 9 could only produce the relative propulsion of coastguard cutters? Not fair, perhaps, but hey, that’s life and he got lucky in the foot department.

Taken to extremes, this “unfair advantage” stuff could boomerang on athletes with extra-long legs, extra-large lungs (such as Ethiopian runners who train at high altitudes) or extra anything that makes them possibly more successful. The whole thing is totally daft.

Rose Chinery, Parkview

Please get us back on the bus

I write this letter as a frustrated bus commuter who has been affected by the ongoing bus strike, which started on April 18. I now have to spend R300 a week travelling to and from work. The past weeks I have witnessed fistfights breaking out, people being stabbed and guns being pulled out in an attempt to get in the taxi first. I have witnessed people collapsing from standing in long queues. We wake up as early as 4am just to be at the front of the queue and get the first taxi out.

We risk our lives as we pass through marauding gangsters who see this as an opportunity to rob people.

A taxi that is supposed to be carrying 15 passengers now carries 30 passengers or more. I didn’t believe that 30 people would fit in one taxi until I saw this. Passengers’ livelihoods are at risk — some have been issued with warnings by their employers for being late.

It saddens me that employers and unions cannot reach an amicable solution. It is unfortunate that the government is not taking a bold stand in this regard. I don’t understand the dynamics of wage negotiations, but surely somehow a compromise has to be made.

Mzamo Jika, Khayelitsha

By whose measure of marriage?

In response to “Proud family say love will Conco all” (April 29), a friend made me aware of my misogyny when I mentioned concern about the age gap between Nonkanyiso Conco and former president Jacob Zuma. She pointed out that we live in a world embedded with double standards and illusions about what should be accepted and what should not. Conco should be left alone. Who put the measuring bar on what a marriage should look like?

Elgin Hlaka, Johannesburg

Show some respect, people

South Africans and especially the entertainment industry are hurt and sad after losing the precious lives of Akhumzi Jezile, Siyasanga Kobese and Thobani Mseleni.

South Africans have humour and have a way of turning hard times into jokes and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I feel we must respect death and the families who have lost their loved ones. When social media memes and jokes are insensitive to those in mourning, we are being unfair and irresponsible.

There is a clip of Kelly Khumalo singing with Akhumzi that makes fun of Kelly. We all know she has nothing to do with the deaths of these people, but for some reason social media critics and bullies have involved her. I don’t want to even imagine what her kid would say if she saw these things. Let us be more thoughtful and sensitive towards each other. These jokes are not funny. Remember that people were human beings before they become celebrities, and they still are.

Xolisile ‘Maguqa’ Guqaza, Johannesburg

Mmusi is no Mampara . . .

Shame, shame Hogarth (April 29). Your Mampara award is most undeserving. Mmusi Maimane is one of our very few decent politicians who do not wave the race card. To single him out in the Patricia de Lille debacle is unfair and unkind.

The Cape Town mayor has hardly distinguished herself, in both management style and in the performance of her office. To enjoy but a third of her party’s support is sufficient to show her the exit card. The fact that she is black is irrelevant.

B Phillips, Rondebosch

. . . in fact, he’s a model politician

As one who had the privilege of being Mampara of the week four times in my political career, I thought your comments about Maimane were nasty and mostly uncalled for.

Unlike several other political leaders in South Africa one could name, Maimane is a gifted speaker, decent, honest, young and intelligent, without even a breath of scandal surrounding him or his lovely family. The country has reason to be proud of having an opposition leader who is an example to many and who is dedicated to upholding the best values of Nelson Mandela and the provisions of our constitution. People like me, and millions of other voters, like and respect Maimane and we are glad to have him as our standard-bearer.

Douglas Gibson, former DA chief whip

Supra a liability in Zuma mould

Re “Supra stripped of control of purse strings” (April 29): can’t the ANC realise that Mahumapelo is as much a liability as Zuma was? Don’t they remember 2016?

Fire Supra and deliver services!

MN Xisinga, Witbank

Write to PO Box 1742, Saxonwold 2132; SMS 33662; e-mail: tellus@sundaytimes.co.za; Fax: 011 280 5150 All mail should be accompanied by a street address and daytime telephone number. The Editor reserves the right to cut letters